


Everyone Trusts in Their Instincts

by impudent_strumpet



Category: And The World Will Turn To Ash - Fandom, Pokemon GO
Genre: :(, Action, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Twins, And the World Will Turn to Ash (Pokemon Fan Comic), At the beginning I mean, Battle, Blood and Violence, Evil Twins, Eyyyyyy there's a tag for this AU, Fan Characters, Fan Comics, Flash Forward, Friendship, Good versus Evil, Human/Pokemon Relationship(s), I almost had to rewrite the whole intro, I should really add to this, I wish so badly that Noire was canon, I'm very out of practice, Minor Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Not graphic compared to my other writing at least, One Shot, Other, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Omniscient, Pokemon, Pokemon Battles, Random & Short, Short, Short One Shot, THERE'S A TAG FOR CANDELA'S FLAREON, Team Dynamics, Team Feels, Team GO Rocket (Pokemon), Teamwork, Twins, Work In Progress, i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impudent_strumpet/pseuds/impudent_strumpet
Summary: A one-shot written for surfacage's "Trust Your Instincts."
Kudos: 34





	Everyone Trusts in Their Instincts

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Trust Your Instincts](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/632752) by surfacage. 



> Hello, so, I'm really out of practice and I should actually be doing some schoolwork but I've gotten into Pokémon Go again to keep my mood (read: sanity) afloat during quarantine and I discovered surfacage's Pokémon Go artwork this morning, so here this is!
> 
> Referring to Blanche as "they" since their gender is kind of ambiguous, at least in the English version of the game.

Team GO Rocket could be powerful. A branch of the original Team Rocket, they were a secret, corrupt organization with the goal of stealing and exploiting Pokémon to achieve world domination. They were known to do this through trafficking and cruel experimentation, and members of Team Rocket had no qualms about hurting Pokémon or their trainers to get what they were after.

These villains worked mostly from the shadows, but a few years later they would start to become exposed...only after great difficulty on the parts of Professor Willow and his assistants, the leaders of Teams Valor, Mystic, and Instinct. Even Blanche's most precise and carefully devised plans to track down the Team GO Rocket Leaders would prove fruitless. Candela's fervor would only stifle her, Spark's keen intuition would fail him.

_“Blanche. You overthink. You overcalculate. You overcomplicate. But can’t you see? It’s pretty simple. Your time as a leader is OVER!!!”_

_“Spark. Your naïve positivity is laughable and will be your undoing. The world is so very cruel. I’ll make sure to remind you soon.”_

_“Candela. After all this time, you still haven’t changed. Tsk. Remember, fire is a fickle thing. When controlled, it provides warmth, but in the wrong hands, it burns. You will regret the day you took what was rightfully mine.”_

Blanche would not be able to help but wonder then...what if the nefarious trio had been right?

But words were wind. _“Overcalculate” is not even a word. Or a thing that one can do,_ Blanche would muse then. Nothing that Team GO Rocket tried could stop the leaders of Teams Valor, Mystic, and Instinct. After all, their trainers would not give up even after multiple sound defeats from the highest-ranking Rocket members. And Candela, Blanche, and Spark were the faces of the teams. They had an example to set.

~

The Team Mystic Leader’s approach to Pokémon training, and to life itself, was one of calm, rational analysis. Why else was the brain at the head of the body, positioned above and in control of all else, if not to reign supreme? Pesky emotions only got in the way and overwhelmed people, causing them to make rash, thoughtless decisions they regretted. They could not be trusted. Even in the heat of battle, Blanche managed to keep their cool, and instructed those on their team to do the same.

Even now. All their Poké Balls, open and empty, idly rolled back and forth on the floor. Chunks of the Team Mystic Gym’s cracked pillars and walls littered it and bobbed on the surface of the pool, the cobalt banners bearing the team emblem were torn, and Team GO Rocket grunts smirked at Blanche in amusement.

But none of it mattered now, Blanche knew as they took calm, measured breaths. They were ready.

“Releasing all your Pokémon when you’re surrounded, just so they couldn’t be taken. You’ve changed!” This was noted by Blanche’s _very literal_ evil twin, Noire of Team GO Rocket, who was truly the polar opposite of the Team Mystic Leader. And not in the complementary way, as many pairs of twins were, like how the fiery passion of Team Valor Leader Candela balanced Blanche’s cool stoicism. In the kind of way that put enmity between these two, so they had been estranged for almost a decade.

Blanche had done this indeed, and was now entirely unprotected from the destruction that their enemies could wreak, all to protect their Pokémon from Team GO Rocket’s capture and cruel treatment. There were reports of starter Pokémon who had risked death for their trainers. A good trainer always put their Pokémon before themselves. This one could handle a beating if it meant their Pokémon were safe.

The Team Mystic Leader smirked over their shoulder at their twin, even as blood dripped down the side of their face from a wound on their brow. A few faint red streaks garishly painted their snowy white hair as well. “Having friends changes you. Not that you’d know what that’s like,” they quipped.

Noire stared back with a blank expression to match their own unhurt, flawless face, then… “Vine Whip.”

Their Venusaur let out a deep, guttural cry as its vines hit Blanche, faster than they could respond. Pain tore into them where the vines had struck, and again as Blanche was thrown against the glass door behind them so hard it shattered, shards flying from the impact and slicing their skin. Drops of their blood dotted the floor and stained the sharp edges of the broken glass that scattered across it.

Wincing from the pain coursing through their body, Blanche pressed their palm to the floor, shakily managing to raise themselves to their knees, as they heard Noire’s booted feet sounding with each step towards them.

“I know you still have _one_ Pokémon that you don’t need a Poké Ball for.” Noire lowered themselves to one knee and gripped Blanche’s chin between their thumb and forefinger, raising the team leader’s head to face them as they grinned menacingly. “ _Summon it._ ”

The mirror image before Noire, and yet their inverse in all else, had been ever the favored twin since the two were children. Hell, they had been the easier birthing, being the younger. Perhaps nothing would change that Noire still loved and cared for their twin deep down — damn it — but it sure felt good to see prodigious, brilliant Blanche get knocked down a peg.

“I’d rather _**die**_ than let you take it,” they spat.

_**KKKRAK!** _

The ground cracked beneath the twins, a bright red glow bursting from the widening chasms, and suddenly the air was burning hot.

**“Flamethrower!”**

Noire jumped back in time to dodge the attack, landing in a crouching position on the balls of their feet. The unmistakable sound of heels clacked on the floor as Blanche felt a familiar pair of arms around them, encasing them in a comfortable warmth as flames now raged around the Team Leaders against the members of Team GO Rocket.

“...Candela? How did you…”

“The rain turned into a blizzard, you know,” Candela explained. “And your Vaporeon came to me asking for help, because you’re stubborn.”

“He is always so disobedient…” Blanche murmured. Grateful though they were for the intervention, now they had their colleague— no, their _friend_ to worry about.

“Spark’s coming too, in a bit.”

“You’re both really stupid.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

As the Team Valor leader leveled a fierce glare at her enemies, Blanche could feel the rage emanating off her, and off the Rapidash and Arcanine that flanked her. Candela’s nostrils flared, steam blew out from between her clenched teeth, and her normally golden eyes now blazed a demonic red. “Noire, **you piece of—** ”

“No, Candela, don’t—!” Blanche warned.

“Hello, Candela,” Noire said evenly. “Fire has a weakness, right?”

A looming darkness settled over the Gym. Two Poliwraths that flanked either side of Noire behind the pool clenched their fists. A Kingler beside them clicked the dactyls of its claw together menacingly. The crimson eyes of three Tentacruel rose from the surface of the bubbling pool water as they floated towards the team leaders. A red-eyed Kabutops stood beside Noire, and another gripped the edge of the pool with its sickle-like arm.

Noire smugly crossed their arms. “What Gym are we in again?”

Too late.

~

The Team Instinct Leader was late.

He was close, but really late. So close now, though. He desperately hoped his teammates— his _friends_ were alright. He didn’t know what he’d do without them. They headed different teams, held different beliefs, but they all needed each other. Just as the four elements of fire, water, earth, and wind united to form a cyclical whole. They had entered the pursuit of Pokémon training together, and they would stay together.

Yet something told Spark they were alright...for now. He couldn’t tell if it was his finely tuned instincts or just wishful thinking, but he had the feeling.

It turned out they were, he saw once he arrived. He breathed a sigh of relief, but rushed toward them, as they still looked worse for wear and the Team GO Rocket members stood before them undefeated.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said hurriedly as he approached Candela, who knelt on the cracked floor as she held Blanche’s battered form close to her, an unconscious Vaporeon curled up between them and Candela’s Flareon pawing at its trainer. Both Team Leaders were stained faintly with either dirt or scorch marks, a gash had torn through Blanche’s sleeve and the Team Instinct leader spied a thin cut on their cheek.

A smaller one on Candela’s cheek caught his eye as she raised her golden eyes to Spark. “Better late than never,” she assured him.

“Well, look what the Meowth dragged in,” came Noire’s voice. Candela faced them warily and wrapped her arm protectively around Blanche’s shoulder, as if instinctively.

_Instinctively…_

Spark turned to face Noire too.

“What’s the washout king of losers gonna do?” Blanche’s twin jeered, hands on their hips as a Weezing and Venusaur loomed behind them. “Stupid us to death?”

There was a pause, then Candela spoke up. “I think you forget that Spark is every inch the Team Leader that Blanche and I are.” As if in agreement, her Flareon leapt onto her shoulder, its tail curling around the back of her head. The fiery Eevee looked down at Blanche’s blue one, whose now-opened eyes gleamed as it gazed up at its friend. 

Blanche had turned their head slightly from where they lay against Candela, as Spark rose to his feet. “And when all else fails…” they rasped, smiling just slightly as Spark’s Zapdos shone brightly behind him. “Everyone trusts...in their instincts.”


End file.
